Theme: Breaking Barriers

The TEDxYouth@TeslaSTEMSchool planning committee is excited to announce that we will be hosting our very first conference on Sunday, March 20, 2016! This year's theme is "Breaking Barriers." With our diversity of speakers with intriguing topics, stellar performers, exciting raffle prizes, and delicious food, we hope you'll attend the conference and consider it a day well spent.

Second Story Hideaway
7425 166th Avenue Northeast
Suite C245
Redmond, Washington, 98052
United States

Aretha Basu

Aretha Basu is a local social justice organizer and student leader. She is one of four co-founders of Women of Color for Systemic Change (WOCFSC) which was listed as one of the “Most Influential People of 2015” by Seattle Magazine. WOCFSC is a local community organizing group that focuses on tackling police accountability and empowering youth of color. She is a junior at the University of Washington Bothell majoring in Society, Ethics, and Human Behavior. Aretha is also on student government as the Director of Student Advocacy for the Associated Students at the University of Washington Bothell.

Kurt Beecher Dammeier

​A fourth generation Puget Sound native, Kurt Beecher Dammeier is an entrepreneur and investor with a track record for identifying and capitalizing on emerging business-to-business and consumer products trends. In 1999, Kurt joined the food community by forming Sugar Mountain. He founded Beecher’s Handmade Cheese in 2003. Beecher’s quickly established itself as a leader in the artisan cheese industry; in addition to its original location in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, in 2011, Beecher’s opened a cheesemaking kitchen, store and restaurant in New York City’s Flatiron District. In 2006, Kurt launched Beecher's Pure Food Kids Foundation.The Foundation operates the Pure Food Kids Workshop, which educates fourth and fifth graders about the prevalence of food additives and their possible health risks. Kurt is now launching a series of food system change initiatives under the moniker Pure Food Revolution.

Marissa Pighin

Marissa is in her senior year as an undergraduate at the University of Washington in the Department of Psychology honors program. Currently, she is conducting her own individual research using EEG neurofeedback to improve reading retention in healthy individuals at the Cognition and Cortical Dynamics Laboratory under Dr. Chantel Prat. Marissa plans to graduate in the spring of 2016 with her B.S. in Psychology with honors. After completing her honors thesis, she will be submitting for publication and will continue to build her experience in the field of research. Marissa is experienced in a variety of areas including research, participant recruitment, training, experimental design, QEEG, non-profit leadership, and various skills from years in the workforce. She has an exceptional knowledge of EEG, QEEG, and neurofeedback literature. Marissa is a very driven and passionate young woman pursuing a Ph.D in cognitive neuroscience where she hopes to continue her research and career.

Mayukha Vadari

​Mayukha Vadari is a senior at Redmond High School. She has been passionate about math and science since the fourth grade and has been participating in competitions, winning many awards, since then. By the time she reached high school, she realized a trend that girls were losing interest in math and science. Mayukha noticed this trend through direct experience with her classmates and friends, as well as observing at competitions. In order to combat this drop in interest, she formed Girls Rock in Science and Math (GRISM), a IRS-certified non-profit company, to encourage passion and excitement for math and science in girls and make them enthusiastic participants. GRISM currently has over 60 students in the program, and runs an annual competition, Girls Embrace Math & Science (GEMS), which had 250 participants last year. Mayukha also loves to play piano, learn various languages and browse Wikipedia in her free time.